Stories Behind The Mask: Beng Who Cooks founders say pandemic has brought out the best in Singaporeans

They've gone from running a hawker stall to helming a fine-dining restaurant, but Jason Chua, 29, and Hung Zhen Long, 28, are still proud to be ah bengs.

Currently running a restaurant called Beng Who Cooks near Chinatown Complex, the dynamic duo became Covid-19 heroes when they started up the Beng Who Cares Foundation with the aim of offering free food to those whose livelihoods were affected by the pandemic, especially struggling parents.

ALSO READ: Bengs who care: Young hawkers serve up free meals for the hungry, turn down donations

And they started the initiative despite also having to deal with their own financial struggles.

At the hawker stall, they earned about $600 a day. However, due to Covid-19, their daily sales dropped immensely to an estimated $18 a day.

Nevertheless, the Beng Who Cares Foundation continued to grow, even earning a special commendation for the President's Volunteerism and Philanthropy Awards in 2020.

However, with recognition comes the added pressure as challenges arise due to the large number of deliveries they had to make during the pandemic.

In this episode of Stories Behind The Mask, we caught up with the duo who shared their challenges in managing the foundation and their journey in setting up Beng Who Cooks.

ALSO READ: From hawker to omakase: A look at Beng Who Cooks@39, the new restaurant by the duo behind Beng Who Cooks

Stories Behind The Mask is presented by Dettol.